Coronavirus - latest updates

With so many changes in such a short amount of time, it is hard to keep on top of all the different sources of information. So this is our summary of the current situation for out of school clubs (last updated 6 June 2020):

Planned re-opening of schools and childcare settings

We had a very useful telephone meeting with DfE staff on 4 June. They are aware of the problems with the initial guidance and are reviewing the situation with urgency.

Further information was received from the DfE on 1 June regarding in what form wraparound provision can re-open from 1 June. The rules are quite restrictive. For more information, see: Restrictions on re-opening of OSCs

On the evening of 10 May the Prime Minister announced his 'roadmap' for slowly moving the country out of lockdown. This included education and childcare settings opening to all children in certain age groups (YR, Y1, Y6) from 1 June onwards, if external conditions regarding the transmission rate of the virus have been met. On 28 May he announced that the 'five conditions' have been met. This means that children in the designated age groups can return to school and childcare from 1 June.

We have had confirmation from the DfE that out of school clubs are indeed included in the types of childcare setting that can open from 1 June, despite only early years settings being mentioned in the initial guidance documents (see links below).

In the meantime providers need to read through the DfE's information about the other protective measures that settings are expected to take, to see whether it would be feasible to re-open your club on those terms.

You must get in touch with the headteacher at your school without delay to see how they are approaching the challenges of safely re-opening, so that you can explore how you could align your processes with theirs. You need to find out how they are planning to organise their 'bubbles' of children, as well as the drop-off and collection times for the different groups.

A likely stumbling block is how to ensure that children of different class groups do not mix during the before or after school sessions. Do you have sufficient space to keep them separated? How could this be achieved (eg by having the children in separate rooms, or could you sub-divide your space in some way)? Depending on the size of the school, would it be possible for the school to ensure that all the before/after-school children for each year group are in the same bubble so that they don't mix with different children after school?

You will also need to consider how many children are likely to need wraparound care during the first weeks of opening, to decide whether it is financially viable for you to re-open your setting at this time. Currently there is a lot of resistance among parents (and some teachers) to the planned re-opening, so numbers are likely to be low initially.

Dfe guidance for early years and childcare settings on how to prepare for wider opening from 1 June. Although it has 'childcare' in the title, it is only focused on traditional early years settings (nurseries and childminders). No mention of wraparound settings, or of childcare required by children in other primary school years:Preparing for the wider opening of early years and childcare settings

Closure of schools and childcare settings

As of Monday 23 March you must close your childcare provision, unless you are caring for the children of key workers, (or for children who are designated as vulnerable).

You cannot stay open to care for children who do not fall into one of the above categories.

It is up to you to decide whether you want to remain open to offer limited childcare as outlined above. You may decide that due to the small number of children involved, or due to a shortage of staff, that it is not practicable to remain open.

There seems to be quite a lot of variation in how schools and local authorities are dealing with the childcare issue. Some are taking over the provision of a full day of childcare entirely by opening from 8.00am to 6.00pm, effectively shutting down any out of school providers who previously worked on their sites; whereas other schools are working in partnership with their existing wraparound providers in order to offer parents an extended day of childcare.

If your club operates from premises that are outside the control of the school (eg from a community building or village hall) then in principle there is nothing to prevent you from opening up to provide a full day of childcare if parents request it - but this can only be for the children of key workers (and for children designated as vulnerable). In some areas, the childcare provided by schools is over-subscribed, so parents are looking for alternatives. Also some parents may prefer to place their children in your care rather than have them warehoused on school sites with large numbers of other children. Note that you would need to notify Ofsted of the change to your opening hours if decided to open all day instead of just before and after school.

If you are remaining open to provide limited childcare (as outlined above) it is essential that you practice good hygiene and implement social distancing within your setting, as far as is practical with children. The DfE has published some guidance (see links below).

Ofsted regulation

The key points from the latest updates from Ofsted are:

All routine Ofsted inspections have been halted, although emergency inspections will still go ahead.

From 8 June Ofsted will be re-starting on-site registration visits. So if your application to join the Early Years Register has been on hold pending the pre-registration site visit, you may be receiving a call from Ofsted at some point soon to see if they can arrange the visit.

Ofsted won't automatically publish reports from recent inspections until schools and childcare settings re-open. However they now plan write to settings which have reports in the pipeline, to see if they would like their report to be published sooner.

You don't need to inform them if you have temporarily closed your setting due to Covid-19. This is because the expectation was that all settings would be closed from 23 March. If you are now in a position to re-open your setting, you should inform Ofsted by sending an email to enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk with ‘Change in operating hours’ in the subject field. In the body of the email, you just need to confirm the unique reference number for each setting and the details of the change.

Any invoices for annual Ofsted registration fees issued from 3 April won't be due for payment until 30 September. However your annual renewal date will not change.

Don't worry if your paediatric first aid certificate is about to expire. The Health and Safety Executive has granted a three month extension on any first aid certificates due to expire on or after 16 March.

There has been no relaxation of the regulations regarding when childcare settings are required to register with Ofsted. Ofsted is urging parents not to use unregulated childcare during the coronavirus crisis.

At the end of April the DfE has published a number of temporary relaxations or 'disapplications' to the requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) to enable childcare provides to be 'more flexible'. The majority of these will not affect the out of school clubs that are still running, as they relate to the learning and development requirements and progress checks, and these don't apply to wraparound settings anyway. The modifications to requirements that could affect out of school clubs are as follows:

Although settings must use their 'best endeavours' to ensure that there is at least one member of staff with a full Paediatric First Aid (PFA) certificate present on site at all times, so long as the children are over the age of two and a thorough written risk assessment is conducted first, it is now permissable to have a member of staff present at all times who just has a current First Aid at Work or current Emergency PFA certificate. 'Best endeavours' means that providers must be able to demonstrate they have identified and taken all possible steps to appoint someone with the full PFA certificate.

For out of school clubs, the requirement to have qualified staff only applies to any pre-school children who attend your setting. These requirements have now been relaxed slightly. You still need to have someone present at each session who has a recognised Level 3 qualification, but it is no longer a legal requirement for half of the remaining staff (who care for the pre-school children) to have a recognised Level 2 qualification. It is also no longer a requirement for staff to have a full PFA or emergency PFA certificate in order to be counted as qualified staff.

These temporary changes came into force on 24 April 2020 and will last throughout the COVID-19 outbreak or until government stipulates otherwise. The end date of the legislative changes is 25 September 2020, but the changes will be reviewed on a monthly basis and disapplications and modifications may be lifted earlier. Once the temporary changes are lifted, the disapplications around staffing qualifications in ratios will still continue for two months to allow settings to get their staffing levels back to normal. But all other temporary disapplications to the regulations will cease immediately.

Coronavirus testing

Childcare workers are classed as essential workers. This means that as of 24 April you are eligible for a free coronavirus test if you have coronavirus symptoms. To find out where your nearest testing centre is, and how to apply for a test, see:Coronavirus (Covid-19): Getting tested

Financial assistance

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

The details of how the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) will work are quite complicated and you must read the full guidance from HMRC, but in essence you can claim back 80% of the wage costs of any full or part-time staff that you have put on 'furlough', up to a maximum of £2,500 per month per person. Furloughed staff are staff that you would otherwise have had to lay off due to a lack of work for them. Instead of laying them off or terminating their contracts, you can furlough them instead. This means that they remain on your company's books for the purposes of continuity of employment etc, but they can't do any work for you.

You don't need to put all your staff on furlough in order to qualify for the scheme. For example you may need to keep some staff on if you are offering limited childcare to key workers, or to cover admin tasks. Note that if staff are still working for you, you won't be able to claim any furlough pay for those individuals even if they are working reduced hours.

When staff are on furlough they can't do any work for you, but they can complete online training courses. Note that you will need to ensure that their furlough pay is equivalent to at least the National Minimum Wage for any time that they spend on training. The guidance from HMRC (see link below) has more information on this.

You must pass the entire furlough grant amount to the employee. You can't keep anything back as 'admin charges' or similar. It is up to you whether you pay an extra 20% to top up the employee's wage to the full 100%, or whether you just pay them the 80%.

Putting staff on furlough constitutes a change to their terms and conditions, so you must get the agreement of the affected staff. (Most staff should recognise that receiving 80% of their pay to stay at home, is preferable to having no job to go back to.) You then need to write to each affected member of staff to formally notify them that they are on furlough and for what period, and to confirm any changes to their pay. You pay your furloughed staff through your usual method and then reclaim the appropriate amount from HMRC. ACAS has useful guidance on the correct procedure for furloughing staff.

HMRC launched its online claim service on 20 April, to enable employers to make a claim be reimbursed for 80% of the wages of any of their staff on furlough. You can only make a claim online, and you must already have a Government Gateway account and be signed up for PAYE online. Claims for staff on furlough can be backdated as far as 1 March and HMRC aims to make payments under the scheme within 6 working days of a claim being submitted.

Changes to CJRS from 1 July

On 12 May the Chancellor announced that the CJRS will continue in its current form up to the end of June, and then in a revised form from July up to the end of October. On 28 May the Chancellor gave more details of how these payments will be gradually tapered off, with employers expected to shoulder more of the cost:

From 1 July, staff will be allowed to work for you part-time but still be partially furloughed. You will pay them their normal wage for the time they are in work, but can apply for the CJRS to cover any or their normal working time that they are furloughed for. More details on how this will work will be published on 12 June.

From 1 July, the maximum number of employees you can claim for, cannot be more than the maximum numberof employees you claimed for up to 30 June.

From 1 August, you will need to start covering the NI and pension contribution costs for your furloughed staff.

From 1 September, you will need to contribute 10% towards the furlough pay of your staff

From 1 October, you will need to contribute 20% towards the furlough pay of your staff

The furlough scheme will cease on 31 October.

Important: If you have any staff who have not yet been furloughed, but who you wish to put on furlough (for example if they are about to return from maternity leave), the last date that you can do this is 10 June. This is because is because they must have completed the minimum 3 weeks of furlough by 30 June in order to qualify for payments from 1 July.

If any of your employees have had to take time off because they have contracted Covid-19, or they have been advised to self-isolate, or because they have been shielding, and they are eligible for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), then you can reclaim up to two week's worth of any SSP that you have paid out. This only applies if you employ fewer than 250 people, and applies to sickness periods that began on or after 13 March, and to staff who were shielding from 16 April. The online system to enable you to claim refunds will open on 26 May. To find out more about how the scheme will work and who it applies to, see:Check if you can claim back SSP paid to employees due to coronavirus/covid-19

Self-employment

On 26 March the Chancellor announced that self-employed people, with profits under £50k, would get a grant equivalent to three months at 80% of their average profits (up to a maximum of £2,500 per month). Known as the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), the grant will be paid in a lump sum at the beginning of June. The calculation of average profits will be based on your last three years' tax returns, or on your last year's tax return if you haven't been in business for three years. Unfortunately if you have only just started out, and haven't yet submitted your first year's tax return, it looks like you won't be covered by this scheme.

People who are effectively self-employed but operate via a small limited company, won't be covered by the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, but they can be compensated at 80% of their PAYE earnings under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (see above).

The online service for making a claim via the SEISS opened on 13 May. If you are eligible you should already have been notified of the date and time from which you can make your claim. The process to submit a claim is quick and very straightforward. Once you've submitted your claim online you should receive the funds within six working days. The last date you can make a claim under the first scheme is 13 July.

On 28 May the Chancellor announced that the SEISS was being extended for a second period. If you still qualify for the SEISS you will be able to make a claim for a second and final grant in August. This second grant will be for the equivalent of three months at 70% of your average profits. More details will be released in due course.

On 27 April the Chancellor announced a new loan scheme aimed at getting money to small businesses quickly. The Bounce Back Loan scheme is backed by the government and will allow small businesses to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000. Applications will be fast-tracked so that businesses should receive the money 'within days'. The loans will be for periods up to six years and will be interest free for the first 12 months. The scheme went live on 4 May.Small businesses boosted by bounce back loansApply for coronavirus bounce back loan

Local authority grants to small businesses in shared spaces

On 2 May the government announced a top-up fund for local authorities, to enable them to give grants to small businesses which have ongoing property-related costs and which operate from 'shared spaces' which therefore weren't eligible for the existing grants based on business rates (because they don't pay separate business rates). More details about this scheme have yet to be announced, but it will be administered through your local authority and they will have discretion about who they allocate the grants to. If you operate from a 'shared space' such as community building, or possibly a school, and you are still liable for rent, you should contact your local authority in the first instance to find out whether you might be able eligible. Find out more about the top-up fund for local authorities

More information about financial support

The government has put in place numerous other measures to support businesses, but the ones we've picked out above are those most likely to be relevant to out of school clubs. For more details of the measures outlined above, as well as information about other business support schemes, see the latest government guidance:Covid-19: Support for businesses